Fourth edition of Laurus Nobilis Music Famalicão, first one fully dedicated to metal in all its varieties. Those first three editions we’ve covered the first day only, which was the heaviest one. Now we’re proud to bring you coverage of the whole fest.

Last year the organization had already set a second stage for big bands still climbing the popularity ladder (calling them “smaller bands” wouldn’t be fair or accurate at all). This year that stage was a bit larger and endorsed, hence named after, the Spanish beer Estrella Galicia – Galicia being the community where the first band Atreides came from as well. The opening day served as a warm-up, with only the Estrella Galicia stage active and four acts on the bill, so the melodic heavy metal of Atreides started echoing around eight-thirty in the evening. The crowd wasn’t big, true, but I confess it was much bigger than I’d expected – and also more responsive towards a band clearly unknown to them, despite their two studio albums. Songs like “Frágiles” or “Laberintos” caused quite an impression – including in some little kids who were tagging along their parents but having a ball on their own.

Things got a bit more hardcore with Booby Trap’s crossover. The most veteran band on that day’s bill got a more aggressive feedback, just like their sound, but still they tried to convince the people in the back to get closer to the stage and join the party – unsuccessful, not even after guitarist Wild Bull provoked them by calling them something like “pussies”. Anyway, “Survive”, “Overloaded”, “Drunkenstein” (my favorite) or Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades” (which they covered long before Lemmy’s death) kept the audience pretty hyped.

Cruz de Ferro is Portuguese for “iron cross”, so that alone gives you an idea what kind of metal they play and what they sing about – yep, traditional heavy metal about Portuguese battles and history in general. They had a handful of devoted fans in the front row, raising their fists and singing along loudly. To those, singer/guitarist Ricardo Pombo exclusively dedicated “Ritual da Cruz” (ritual of the cross), apologizing to the rest of the people attending the festival. But since they’ve played for the very first time a new song called “Soldado Desconhecido” (unknown soldier) – in memory of all Portuguese soldiers who lost their lives in the second Great War – I guess no one minded to be left out of the aforementioned dedicatory.

But it was Infraktor’s “ferocious metal” that got the most out of the crowd, proving the promoters right when they chose such a young band to headline the first day. Well, young as Infraktor, who released their debut album “Exhaust” early this year – the members are all old-school ambassadors of the national underground, as I’ve told you when I reviewed said debut (here).
From “Blood Of The Weak” to “Ferocious Intent”, this was the night’s most intense performance – both on and off stage. Some people were singing along the choruses, but in order to everyone give use to their vocal chords, Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength” wrapped up the show, as someone in the crowd “guessed”. Singer Hugo Silva joked, asking him if he had peeked at the setlist, but knowing that he’d just attended some previous Infraktor concert.